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Wayanna’s words echoed in Ebba’s mind for days afterwards.
Wear Mother’s skin? She’d not ever thought about visiting her seal family. She wasn’t born with a skin. She knew such an idea was impossible.
But now...Wayanna had planted a seed Ebba couldn’t shake.
Wear the skin. Become a seal, just for a little while.
She hadn’t been born to the waves, Ebba told herself, so she wouldn’t be compelled to stay. Being on land was her natural state, and her father said you couldn’t fight your natural state. She’d have no trouble coming back. And she wouldn’t be stealing the skin, just borrowing it. That’s all. Borrowing.
She’d meet her seal-family, experience their way of life, and return home. Maybe it would even encourage her mother to visit and meet her grandchildren.
Ebba nodded to herself, her thoughts certain. She would borrow the skin, visit for a while, and come back.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to quell the nerves flitting about in her stomach. She could smell the sea so strongly, despite being some distance away. And the waves crashing on the shore were all so clear. Had it always been so clear? She felt as though her senses were suddenly attuned to the ocean, she could imagine, now, the sun filtered through sea water, crystal clear to her seal eyes, not fuzzy as when she opened her human ones beneath the waves.
And the feel of the water on her skin, that would be different too, the weightlessness of moving through the ocean.
Ebba felt the call with every cell of her body. She had to experience it, just for a little while.
‘Wayanna said to say hello.’ Ebba picked another juicy red raspberry from the cane and dropped it into her basket.
‘You saw her again?’ Myna was on the opposite side of the row, barely visible through the leaves.
Ebba nodded, though she knew her mother couldn’t see. ‘I thought I should get to know her, seeing as she’s my sister.’
She heard Myna’s sigh though the canes. ‘Yes. Well. It was hard to know what to do when you were younger. I didn’t know how you’d react when you learned you weren’t an only child, or that your sister lived most of her life as a seal.’
Ebba took a step along the row to reach the next lot of berries. A question burned her tongue, but she didn’t want to ask until she could see her mother’s face.
‘Were you worried I’d tell other people? Just when things were getting back to normal, just when you were making friends. I probably would have; children don’t seem to be able to keep a secret. Everybody would have known.’ Ebba babbled to fill in the silence.
Myna sighed again. ‘Probably, Ebba. Yes, there’s a good chance of that.’
They’d reached the end of the row now, and Ebba could see the furrows between her mother’s eyes and across her forehead. Perhaps now was not the best time, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
‘Did you know Wayanna has children?’
Myna’s eyes widened.
‘She never told me that.’
‘You never asked.’
‘Well...’ Myna looked down at her half full basket. ‘I never thought she’d have anything of interest to share. What do seals do all day anyway; swim, eat fish? I never thought of family.’
‘She’s twenty-six, Mother. And she’s part human, they all are. They’re not just seals. And even if they were, seals have babies too.’
Myna turned to the next row, suddenly intent on filling her basket.
‘Don’t you want to know anything about them?’ Ebba asked. ‘They’re your grandchildren, too.’
Myna’s surprised glance told Ebba the thought had not occurred to her, but when Myna went back to picking Ebba realised her mother didn’t want to think about it.
‘I know I’ve been a disappointment to you, as a mother,’ Myna began. ‘But if you’re telling me this because you want me to leave, I won’t. There’s your father to think of, too. His heart would be broken if I went.’
‘That’s not it at all.’ Ebba frowned. She wanted to explain, but Myna had already turned and was walking along the path back to the house.
Ebba dropped to the ground, slamming her basket down as she did so.
She can be so infuriating! Why couldn’t Myna see that all Ebba wanted was to have a proper family, with a mother who was present whenever they were together, and not permanently somewhere else?
She took a deep breath. The conversation had confirmed one thing. Myna would not be wanting her skin anytime soon. And if grandchildren couldn’t tempt her, the thought of meeting extended family was enough to tempt Ebba.
I gave you the chance, Ma. She got up and strode back towards the house. And if you aren’t going to take it, I am.
